Photo: Archivo/RHC

By María Josefina Arce 

Cuba has much to offer in terms of knowledge, research and medicines resulting from the development of biotechnology.  And there are millions around the world who benefit and improve their living conditions thanks to Cuban drugs.

Much could be achieved, in this as in other fields, if the United States were open to cooperation, instead of maintaining a criminal blockade and continuing to allocate large sums of money from the U.S. taxpayer to promote destabilizing actions in Cuban territory.

Last year, at the worst moment of the COVID-19 in the neighboring country, several U.S. cities asked for collaboration with Cuba to face the pandemic, given the control shown of the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

However, although every day a high number of dead Americans were reported, the administration of then President Donald Trump opted for silence and continued to reinforce the economic siege.

An attitude that is also the option chosen by current President Joe Biden, to whom scientists from the Greater Antilles sent a letter last August, in which they expressed their willingness to collaborate with that nation and to exchange information on the anti-virus vaccines developed in Cuba.

Science shows the path that should prevail, bilateral cooperation, which could contribute so much for the good of humanity and the two peoples, if Washington would stop its hostile policy, as stated by Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel in his Twitter account.

This is confirmed by the new clinical study of the Roswell Park Institute, in the U.S. state of New York, of the Cuban vaccine Cimavax EGF against lung cancer, one of the main causes of death in the world.

This is the second trial carried out by this prestigious Cuban immuno center, after demonstrating its safety. Now the aim is to treat smokers at high risk of developing lung cancer, as well as patients in the early stages of the deadly disease.

Roswell Park Institute specialists have pointed out that the Cuban vaccine combines a relatively simple formulation with an innovative mechanism of action.

Cimavax EGF is the result of 25 years of research, led by the Center for Molecular Immunology. It was first evaluated in clinical trials in 1996 and, since then, others have been carried out to improve its formulation, immunization scheme and efficacy.

Informally since 2011 the two outstanding institutions have been collaborating and since 2015 through an agreement, which had to circumvent the many obstacles imposed by the blockade. But it has been worth the long road, because as emphasized by American scientists Cimavax EGF has significantly prolonged the survival of lung cancer patients.

Something that should be taken into account by the current U.S. administration, since bilateral collaboration could do much to benefit both peoples.